tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30289778.post7740831636352847127..comments2023-12-01T00:34:23.424-05:00Comments on Knowledge and Experience: Teaching SustainabilityEvelyn Bristerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17016286150526911445noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30289778.post-75952703515424986942008-08-12T11:57:00.000-04:002008-08-12T11:57:00.000-04:00My main point is that using the Internet is more c...My main point is that using the Internet is more central to most people's experience than shopping at farmer's markets. And if you want people to get jazzed about a new paradigm, then it should be explained in terms they already understand.<BR/><BR/>What percentage of McKibben's audience regularly shops at farmer's markets? It may be significant, but it's not as many people as use the internet.<BR/><BR/>Moreover, people's experience of farmer's markets is varied to a larger degree than he may realize from his quaint home in Vermont. In my hometown, the farmer's market is 3 rusty pickup trucks in a vacant lot next to the railroad tracks selling wilted mustard greens on Wednesday afternoons, when the temperature is likely to be 98 degrees. <BR/><BR/>And that's where McKibben's metaphor breaks down: how exactly is the Internet like that farmer's market?Evelyn Bristerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17016286150526911445noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30289778.post-8744291106142030702008-08-12T11:11:00.000-04:002008-08-12T11:11:00.000-04:00Internet or farmer's markets?I would prefer the fa...Internet or farmer's markets?<BR/><BR/>I would prefer the farmer's market--despite my elite cyberness--because that metaphor preserves the sanctifying aspect of social organization. The human. Hence, I am very hesitant to accede to your preference for technological metaphors, for they shed the human into the second tier very quickly. I note that your subsequent use of metaphor continues on this track--you mention technological characteristics and suggest that human sociability be modeled on them. Hence, your preference for a certain metaphor shades its way into being more than a metaphor.<BR/><BR/>One would have to pry my laptop from my cold, dead hands before I'll give up technology, but I would be more concerned about where technological-thinking leads us.khadimirhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12960757465883819380noreply@blogger.com